


Galactic Lovesickness

by tastyeclairr



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Burning Rescue - Freeform, Burning Rescue Lio Fotia, Comedy, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Galo Thymos Being an Idiot, Gay Panic, Like, Lio Fotia POV, Lio's really dense, M/M, Morosexual Lio Fotia, Not Beta Read, Promare (2019) Spoilers, Team as Family, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Truth or Dare, guys being dudes (dudes being gay), i think 3 f words so not too bad, lots of gay panic, really dense, romcom, self-discovery?, some pizza, swear words >:((, they're being really gay what more do you expect from me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23683219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tastyeclairr/pseuds/tastyeclairr
Summary: Lio's finally settling into the Burning Rescue squad, and he's starting to feel more comfortable around them. He spends a lot of time with the squad, learning more about himself and his new friend, Galo.The thing he's learning? He really, really, likes him.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 6
Kudos: 111





	Galactic Lovesickness

**Author's Note:**

> WOW I haven't written in AGES. 
> 
> I'd say happy new year, but that's long overdue.
> 
> I was kinda stressed about school, VCE, and, you know, the pandemic, so I caved and wrote some fluff I thought was acceptable enough for the public. Listen to something cute and fluffy when you read this- it'll help
> 
> Exciting news, though- I'm going to be working on a play/event for my state arts centre, which is pretty cool. I'm working with some other writers on a play (which I've never done so, :pogsweat:)
> 
> Enjoy my self-indulgent stress fluff- it's really gay (and dialogue-heavy, so if that's not your thing, then... I don't know what to tell you) 
> 
> Side note? The spacing turned out really wack and honestly I can't be bothered fixing it so I'm sorry

Galo’s room is messy. Really, really, messy.

He offered for Lio to sleep in his bed for the time being until they can get him his own room.

‘You live here?’ Lio says, scrunching up is nose. He looks around at the various posters and strings of fairy lights around the room. ‘What are you, 16?’

‘In spirit,’ Galo grins.

Lio shoves his hands into his pockets and scrapes his heel on the floor. Galo reaches out for a split second with a pained look on his face.

‘Lio- you’re gonna mess up my rug-’ he whimpers. Lio apologises and stops. ‘Well, we’re all going out for lunch soon if you want to come?’

Galo instantly perks up when he says that, as if his brain flipped a switch to make him excited. Maybe that’s just how his brain works.

‘Shouldn’t I unpack?’

‘What do you have?’ Galo says, tilting his head. It’s a fair point- Lio’s only holding a backpack and a shoebox.

‘A few clothes,’ Lio says, looking down at his arms. ‘I think a book and maybe some eyeliner.’

Galo grins again. ‘Then chuck it on the bed and let’s go EAAAAT!’

‘I thought you’d say something about the eyeliner,’ Lio replies, placing his things on Galo’s bed. He lays them down neatly, even adjusting the position of the shoebox so it lies straight.

Galo shrugs. ‘I knew those eyes weren’t natural.’

Lio turns to face him and straightens his posture. ‘I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult.’

‘Take it whichever way you want.’ Galo does this weird smirk that feels almost condescending but also kind of flirtatious. Lio’s never seen him do anything like that before.

‘Um, I’ll take it as a compliment,’ Lio says slowly, squeezing past Galo to the doorway.

He has these sad eyes as if he’s been hurt by Lio’s curt reaction. He kind of looks like a puppy asked out his puppy crush and she’d gave him a cold no. Except, put that expression on a human.

‘So uh-’

‘Pizza? There’s this really good place that we all go to, I think you’ll like it,’ Galo says. His sad eyes vanished? Lio does not understand this man. He sighs, knowing he probably never will.

‘Sure, pizza sounds good.’ Lio says. He smiles lightly. There’s almost a sort of comfort in Galo’s complexity. Lio is very upfront and direct in his personality and mannerisms, so Galo kind of balances him out.

‘You uh, you want a hug?’ Galo says suddenly.

‘Pardon?’ Lio stutters. Galo’s transitions- flawless.

‘Well- I mean, this must all be really hard- so- hug?’ Galo says, scrambling to explain himself. Lio squints.

‘What’s the catch.’

‘Jesus Christ, Lio, it’s a hug. Just end my suffering and give me an answer.’

Lio exhales and wraps his arms around Galo.

‘This good enough?’

‘It was meant to be for your benefit, but- yes,’ Galo replies. Lio notices a small split in his sentence.

Galo’s really warm. He radiates heat, sort of like the promare used to do. The promare would keep him warm, and now that it’s gone, that heat is lost. But this hug warms him up like before.

‘You’re warm,’ Lio mutters.

‘It’s all the fat.’

‘Shut up.’

Galo laughs subtly, and Lio leans into the feeling of his voice echoing through his chest.

‘You know the promare was like my body heat,’ Lio says. ‘So now I don’t have anything to keep me warm.’

‘That’s what I’m here for!’ Galo says excitedly, pulling away from the hug. ‘I’ll be your promare!’

‘It’s uh, not really easy.’ Lio runs his hands through his hair, staring at his feet.

‘Neither is being the saviour of the world but we handled that one pretty well, didn’t we?’

Lio chuckles quietly. ‘I guess we did.’

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━

While they’re walking to the pizza shop, Lio stands close to Galo, shivering.

‘I’m cold,’ he says quietly. Galo stops walking and scratches his chin. ‘What are you doing.’

‘I’m thinking!’ Galo says. ‘Now that I’m your promare, I have to make you warm! Oh- I know-’

‘What are you-’ He scoops Lio up and carries him while walking. ‘What are you doing?!’

Galo laughs. ‘Well, are you warm?’

‘Well yeah, but I’m also in the AIR,’ Lio yelps. The burning rescue team snickers.

‘The great and mighty leader of the Mad Burnish, most powerful Burnish terrorist group, is afraid of HEIGHTS?’ Aina cackles. Lio scoffs loudly.

‘I’m not afraid of heights, I was on top of buildings every day!’

‘You seem pretty scared to me,’ Lucia says matter-of-factly. ‘I would be too, Galo’s pretty tall.’

‘Somehow, that makes me feel worse,’ Lio replies.

‘We’re almost there, relax,’ Galo says. ‘Besides, the pizza will burn you alive, don’t even worry about that.’

‘That’s only because you eat it as soon as it’s on the table, Galo,’ Remi says. ‘Maybe if you didn’t, you wouldn’t burn alive.’

Galo grumbles and shakes his head.

‘Everyone knows that it’s best fresh out of the oven!’ he protests. Remi shrugs, knowing he’s right.

Another person runs up to the group waving. Who-

‘My favourite group to see!’ the person exclaims. Lio looks to his right to see a pizza shop. Presumably the one they’re going to. ‘Plus a guest?’

Galo nods and drops Lio. ‘HEY-’ Lio manages to land on his feet, but he gives Galo a death stare nonetheless.

‘The leader of the Mad Burnish?’ the man says. Lio winces, prepared for some form of beration. The man grins and shakes his hand vigorously. ‘I’m the owner of this establishment! Thank you for everything you’ve done for the Burnish! My cook will want to talk to you!’

Lio tilts his head as he rushes back into the store.

‘Their cook was a Burnish,’ Galo whispers to Lio. That makes sense, then.

‘Was the owner?’

‘No, but he’s very protective of his cook,’ Galo replies. Lio nods slowly.

The owner runs back out, with another person by his side. ‘Come in, Burning Rescue!’

Galo pats Lio on the shoulder as the rest of the group walks in.

‘Lio,’ the quiet voice of the cook says. Lio turns to face him and the cook smiles and walks inside. ‘Thank you.’

He tightly hugs Lio. Lio notices his prosthetic hand and scarring. The Burnish were all very close, and back when he was in Mad Burnish he made it his mission to communicate with all the local Burnish at least once.

‘I’m so sorry,’ he says quietly.

‘Thank you for helping our brothers and sisters,’ the cook says. ‘Thank you.’

‘We’re safe now,’ Lio says. ‘You’re safe.’

The cook stands back and nods. He presses his palm to Lio’s, a form of Burnish greeting. You’re meant to connect your flame, but of course neither of them have a flame anymore.

‘I hope feel at home here,’ the cook says, directing Lio inside. Lio smiles and nods with a thank you. He shows Lio to the table and Lio sits down next to Galo, the only available spot.

‘That was your first kiss?!’ Aina yells, cackling. What did he miss.

‘Shut up!’ Galo whines, leaning over the table.

‘Oh hi Lio!’ Lucia grins evilly, waving at Lio. He waves awkwardly. ‘We were just talking about-’

‘Shut your mouth or I’ll shut it for you!’ Galo says, pointing at Lucia. He looks at Lio for a split second- his face the colour of the sauce on the pizzas.

‘But I thought you were gay,’ Lucia says, sitting back in her seat.

Galo flips her off and rests his chin on his other hand. ‘I’m sorry, Lio.’

‘I still want to know what you were talking about, honestly,’ Lio replies. ‘That whole interaction had me intrigued.’

Galo groans. ‘Don’t even worry about it, the others were being rude.’

‘So who was your first kiss, then?’

The pizza comes as soon as Lio asks the question, and Galo seems a little too eager to change the topic to the pizza.

‘Just LOOK at this delicious pizza everyone!’ he says, rubbing his hands together. Everyone at the table thanks the owner and Galo immediately takes a huge bite out of an entire pizza. ‘MM SO GOOD. Thank you Chief, you are the REAL one!’

Lio stares at him, almost disgusted but mostly impressed at the huge bite he could take out of the pizza.

‘I know,’ Aina mutters to Lio. ‘It’s disgusting.’

‘I’m mostly impressed,’ Lio replies. ‘How does he even still have a mouth?’

‘Beats me.’

Lio and Aina both stare at him while he continues to finish the entire pizza.

‘I haven’t even taken a slice,’ Lio says to himself. Galo laughs and tells him to take one, then. Lio takes the slice nearest to him and nibbles on the end. It’s delicious, to be fair, but there’s a certain level of trust you have to get to with people in order to eat however you want around them. He’s almost flattered by Galo eating like an absolute neanderthal.

‘So, are you gay, then?’ Lio asks, taking another bite. Galo sighs.

‘Are you kidding me?’ Lucia says. ‘Of course he is. He runs around without a shirt, makes everything into a massive show, and can’t physically fight until his armour is beautiful.’

Galo scoffs.

‘I guess that’s fair,’ Lio shrugs.

‘I am not,’ Galo protests. He picks up another pizza and holds it close to his mouth. ‘Just ‘cuz Lio’s new that doesn’t mean you can tell him lies.’

‘But you came out ages ago,’ Ignis states. ‘It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Galo. I’m sure Lio doesn’t mind.’

‘Oh, I’m sure,’ Varys says quietly. He and Lucia erupt in laughter, but Lio doesn’t know why. It’s not really a joke, is it? Besides, he hadn’t said anything yet.

‘I mean, I don’t care,’ Lio frowns. ‘If you guys don’t care I was a Burnish, then who am I to judge you.’

Remi looks up from his phone. ‘He makes a good point, Galo.’

‘Can we change the subject?’ Galo groans, taking a massive bite of his food.

‘But I still don’t know if you’re gay or not,’ Lio says. ‘I’m conflicted on my conclusion.’

Galo ignores him. ‘So, what now? We’ve saved the world and stuff,’ he says to the group. Lio chuckles.

‘There’s still a lot to do,’ Lio says. ‘Like-’

‘Like ordering another pizza!’ Varys exclaims. ‘Chief! Another Inferno Volcano Margarita Megamix!’

Galo cheers as the owner brings over another pizza and places it on the table with a huge smile. Lio must admit: it is really nice to be able to enjoy the little things like this again. He can go out with friends and not live in fear of being arrested or taken away. Still, it’s taking people a while to warm up to the whole ex-burnish thing, but after the whole prometech thing got out, people were generally a lot more understanding.

It’s nice.

He really missed this.

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━

At night, they all play some games as a unit. The basic party ones like Truth or Dare (like children, they tease each other and ask mean questions and funny dares), but then also some more... Burning Rescue specific ones like impersonation competitions and eating contests.

‘Lucia! Your turn to ask someone!’ Galo says excitedly, pointing a hand at her.

‘I’ll ask you, then!’ Lucia spits back with a grin. Galo thinks for a second, then chooses truth. ‘Okay, fuck, marry, kill.’

‘Nooo, I hate this one!’ Galo groans, ruffling his hair. ‘Should have chosen dare!’

‘Vulcan, Lio, Remi,’ Lucia says, slapping the ground affirmatively. Remi protests, telling her this is much too inappropriate. ‘It’s fuck marry kill, Remi, anything goes.’

Remi grumbles and crosses his arms.

‘Well, kill Vulcan, obviously,’ Galo says, then winces. ‘I don’t want to finish this.’

Aina smiles. ‘You don’t have to, but you know what happens if you don’t,’ she says, gesturing to the cup in the middle of the circle.

It’s horrendous. Lucia grabbed the biggest cup she could find, added every food item she could find in the cupboards and fridge and put it in there. Lio can smell it from where he’s sitting, and it’s _not_ good.

‘Fine. This is a hypothetical, remember,’ Galo says, squirming where he sits. ‘I’ll fuck Remi and marry Lio.’

Remi frowns. ‘I don’t know whether to rejoice I don’t have to marry you or to be offended you won’t.’ Galo shrugs and tells him to take it any way he wants.

Lio ignores the tips of his ears feeling warm. ‘So it’s your turn, right? That’s how this works?’

Galo sighs and nods. ‘I have to pick someone now. How about you, I’ll be nice.’

Lio nods slowly. ‘Uh, truth? I don’t know, whichever you think will be more fun.’

‘What is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done?’ Galo asks.

‘Trust you,’ Lio mutters. The room erupts in laughter and Galo scoffs. Lio waves his hands defensively. ‘No offence, but, in hindsight I shouldn’t have trusted someone I didn’t know to help save the world. Someone so... dense.’

Galo whimpers. ‘That kinda hurt, man,’ he says sotto voce. ‘You wound me.’

Lio chuckles lightly, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear. He fumbles with his hands mindlessly as the game continues on. He was really bad at dares, though. When Aina said dare, he resorted to the basic “belt a song” dare. She was actually good, though, so it wasn’t too bad, but just the slightest bit awkward.

They stopped around midnight, when some of them were falling asleep already. Galo was basically knocked out, falling in and out of sleep. Like a puppy that had run around all day and then passed out on the floor when it came home. He perked right back up when everyone started leaving, and Lio waited for him because honestly, he didn’t really know what was happening.

Galo walks him to his room, and Lio now regrets not unpacking earlier.

‘Are you sure it’s okay for me to sleep here?’ he asks, turning to Galo. He’s laying on a couch in the room, but he doesn’t look too comfortable. ‘I can just sleep where you are for now until I find somewhere else to stay.’

Galo jumps off of the couch and shakes his head. ‘Don’t even say that, Lio! You’re a guest!’ he says. ‘You sleep in the bed!’

Lio frowns. ‘If you’re sure,’ he says. He gathers spare clothes from his bag and looks around the room. ‘Um- Galo? Where should I change?’

‘Ah- I’ll show you to the bathroom,’ Galo says. He holds Lio’s arm as they walk to the bathroom, and Lio suddenly feels warm again. They walk down a flight of stairs and through the building. Lio tries to remember his steps. ‘Here it is! If you get lost just call out and someone’ll come get you.’

‘Thanks,’ he says with a small smile. Galo’s hand lingers on his arm, and he brushes Lio’s hand as he takes it away. Lio stares as he walks back to his room, standing completely still, almost stunned. He finally composes himself and gets changed in the bathroom, changing into a comfy huge jumper and trackpants. He doesn’t have many clothes, from always being on the run.

He steps out of the bathroom and tries to remember the way back to Galo’s room. Up the stairs, to the left, and then the third room on the right, right? He’s just going to have to hope he’s right. He walks steadily up the stairs and takes the left, then walks to the third room on the right. He knocks lightly.

The door swings open and Aina greets him with a wave. ‘You look comfy! Can I help?’ she grins.

‘I thought this was Galo’s room, but clearly not,’ Lio hums. ‘Where do I go?’

Aina laughs. ‘It is, I just came in to say goodnight!’ She opens the door wider and waves Lio in. ‘Well done for finding it on your first go. It was your first go, right?’

Lio nods curtly, shuffling into the room.

‘Well, goodnight guys! Don’t stay up all night talking!’ Aina waves, winking at Galo. He flips her off as she closes the door.

Lio waits until she’s further away to sit down. ‘What was that all about?’

‘Oh, nothing, she was coming in to say goodnight,’ Galo says with a shrug. He looks up at Lio. ‘Uhm, just like usual.’

‘Somehow, I don’t believe you,’ Lio says, placing his bag and box on the floor next to the bed. He takes a hairtie off of his wrist and ties his hair up. He exhales and straightens up the bedding. ‘Should I turn off the light yet?’

‘U-uh, sure,’ Galo nods. ‘Thanks.’

Lio walks over to the switch but doesn’t turn it off. ‘Galo, are you alright? You seem a bit red. Are you sick?’

Galo waves his hands. ‘No no I’m not sick,’ he says. Lio frowns. He really does look sick, though. He walks over and sits next to Galo and puts his hand to Galo’s cheek. ‘W-what are you doing?’

‘You’re quite warm,’ Lio hums, checking his own forehead and comparing it to Galo’s. ‘Are you sure you’re not sick?’

Galo nods quickly. ‘Yes, I’m sure.’

‘I’ll go get Aina, you feel too warm,’ Lio says. Galo protests, but Lio ignores him. He knocks on the door next to them, and Luica sticks her head out.

‘Oh- hello,’ Lio says. ‘I think Galo’s ill, and I was looking for Aina because she might be able to help. Where can I find her?’

‘Oh no!’ Lucia frowns, opening the door to a comfortable width for her to stand. ‘How’s he sick?’

‘He’s a bit flushed and really warm,’ Lio says. ‘I’m a bit worried.’

Lucia smirks and adjusts her stance. ‘Maybe just let him sleep on it, he’s probably fine.’

Lio nods. ‘That makes sense,’ he says. ‘Thank you.’

Lucia grins. ‘Tell me if this happens again,’ she says. Her wink makes Lio a little bit confused, but he nods and says he will.

He goes back to Galo’s room to find him sitting on the couch, grouching.

‘Lucia said probably just sleep and see how you feel in the morning,’ Lio says, turning off the light. ‘So, goodnight, Galo.’

‘Goodnight,’ Galo replies with a small sigh of relief. Lio hears shuffling as he presumably lies down. Lio smiles to nobody in particular and sits down on Galo’s bed, pulls the blankets over him, and snuggles into the soft mattress.

The covers smell like him, kinda like the specific washing detergent he uses or even just how he smells. It’s pretty comforting, actually. Lio brings the blanket up to his chin and settles into the bed.

‘Your bed is very comfortable,’ Lio says quietly. He hears a soft laugh from the other side of the room.

‘It is,’ he replies. Lio rolls over to look at Galo. He can only see the outlines of his features in the dark, but he still can’t look away from him. He’s beautiful, with defined features and soft hair. Despite his constructed face, he’s one of the softest people Lio’s seen. For some reason, he wants to reach out and touch his face, his hands.

Why does he want to do that? He’s never felt that sort of thing before.

Frustrated, Lio rolls over again to go to sleep.

‘Are you warm enough?’ Galo asks softly. Lio looks over.

‘I mean, I’m a little cold but I’ll be fine,’ he replies. Galo’s soft voice was like... like an angel or something spoke to him. Comforting. Warm.

‘Here,’ Galo says. He stands up, takes his own blanket and drapes it over Lio. Lio feels that same warmth from earlier when Galo leans over him to place the blanket.

Lio sits up in protest. ‘Don’t give me your blanket, _you’ll_ be cold,’ he says. Galo rubs the back of his head.

‘I’ll be fine,’ he says. ‘You’ve had your entire body composition change, you need it more than I do.’

Lio exhales. ‘I...’ He moves over to the edge of the bed and pats the space beside him. ‘Here.’

‘W-what?’ Galo stammers. ‘Why?’

Lio sighs and rubs his forehead. ‘It solves both of our issues.’

Galo reluctantly sits down next to Lio.

‘I’m not going to stab you in your sleep,’ Lio says, pursing his lips. He lies down again and faces the wall, covering his warm ears. Why are they so hot? Is he sick, too? ‘Galo I think I might be sick, too.’

Galo tenses up. ‘Y-you do?’

‘Yeah,’ Lio frowns. ‘Maybe it was something to do with being in space or whatever.’

‘R-right,’ Galo nods. ‘Space.’

Lio sighs and sinks into the mattress. ‘I still can’t believe we did all that.’

‘Yeah,’ Galo says. ‘I got arrested, you got arrested, you turned into a dragon, almost died, then we like, lit the earth on fire after fighting Kray? And that whole thing with the promare?’

‘It’s pretty weird,’ Lio says, rolling on his back. ‘Really weird.’

‘But your life was pretty weird before this all, though,’ Galo says. He turns his head to look at Lio. ‘Being the leader of Mad Burnish and all.’

Lio hums quietly in agreement. He looks over at Galo, and he feels that same warmth when their eyes meet. He’s beginning to think it might be something to do with Galo.

He’s adjusted to the dark now, so he can see a faint glow of Galo’s striking blue eyes. He almost wants to turn the light on so he can see them better.

‘I love your eyes,’ he says, almost a whisper. ‘They’re really pretty.’

Galo freezes up again. ‘T-thank you,’ he says. ‘I...’ His sentence trails off as though he lost his thought or something. ‘We should probably sleep- it’s probably going to be a big day tomorrow. First day at Burning Rescue, hey?’

‘Right, sorry.’ Lio turns over and sighs silently. He was probably coming off too strong, and made Galo uncomfortable. ‘Sorry.’

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━

Lio wakes up a little later than everyone else; he hadn’t slept this well in a long time. He comes down still in his pyjamas, just to scope out the situation. He’d get dressed afterwards.

‘Lio!’ Aina says when he comes down the stairs. ‘I have a present!’

‘A... present?’ Lio mutters. He’d almost forgotten the word.

‘Well- not really,’ Aina says, handing Lio a bag. ‘Just something for you. Maybe to help you feel more at home here.’

Lio nods, still a little confused. He thanks her, taking the bag.

‘Go change into it!’

He puts a thumb up, walking to the bathroom. He looks inside the bag to see a Burning Rescue uniform, in his size. He smiles as he gets dressed. It does make him feel less like a guest and more like a member of the group. He folds up his pyjamas and holds them in the nook of his arm.

‘Aww you’re so cute!’ Aina grins, taking the bag back from Lio when he returns. Lio laughs and thanks her.

‘How’d you know my size?’ Lio asks, looking down at his uniform.

‘I took a guess,’ Aina huffs, deflating a bit. ‘I’m glad I was right. And since you were wearing that jumper I thought you might want a bigger jacket. Also to keep you warm, I got one of the thick ones.’

‘Thank you, Aina, that’s really thoughtful,’ Lio frowns. ‘What can I do to repay you?’

Aina raises her eyebrows. ‘You don’t need to do anything! You’re one of us, now!’

Ignis pats Lio’s back rather hard. ‘Welcome to the team, Lio,’ he says. ‘We’re excited to have you as one of our own.’

The Burning Rescue team applauds, and Aina hugs him tightly. The others quickly take to joining in on the hug, even Remi. Lio doesn’t take him for a big hugger.

‘We love you, man,’ Galo grins, ruffling Lio’s hair. ‘Thanks for saving the world with me.’

Lio laughs, jumping up to hug him. He rests his head on Galo’s shoulder and smiles contently. ‘It was my pleasure,’ he wraps his legs around Galo, clinging onto him. ‘Let’s do it again sometime.’

‘Jesus, just kiss already,’ Lucia says. ‘You’ve done it before, you can do it again. I won’t look.’

Lio gulps, staring at Galo.

_Fuck it._

He leans forward and takes a leap of faith.

Galo doesn’t really resist, but Lio’s stomach crunches nonetheless. He kisses Galo rather gently, still unsure if it’s even something he should be doing. His entire body spins from his nerves, but Galo puts his hand on Lio’s head and strokes his hair, and suddenly Lio isn’t so nervous anymore. The Burning Rescue squad laughs and claps as Lio buries his face in Galo’s chest from partly shame, but also because he has no idea what to do with himself. That sickness was definitely to do with Galo.

He whips his head around to look at Lucia, whose mouth is hanging wide open.

‘I didn’t think you’d really do it!’ she laughs. ‘But I’m proud.’

Lio jumps down and laughs with her, kinda freaking out. His throat catches on the air and he coughs and sputters, crouching down to the floor.

‘Jeez, was I really that bad?’ Galo frowns as Lio tries to get his breath back. That only makes him laugh more, and so he chokes more.

Aina hands him a glass of water, stifling a laugh. He thanks her, taking a small sip.

‘Oh, I’m crying,’ Lio says, wiping his eyes with his hand. ‘Sorry I kiss you, and the first thing I do is almost choke to death.’

The group laughs lightly. ‘But as I was saying before you started dying,’ Lucia says. ‘I’m proud.’

Lio chuckles, rubbing the back of his head. ‘What did you mean “you’ve done it before”?’ he asks.

Lucia grins. ‘Galo told us about your moment inside Kray’s ship,’ she winks. Lio laughs quietly as Galo yells at Lucia for telling him that.

As the laughter surrounds him, and the feeling of Galo on his lips lingers, he finally feels like he belongs in this world. Like he’s finally accepted.

And he has a family.


End file.
